Erasing a European biodiversity hot-spot: Open woodlands, veterantrees and mature forests succumb to forestry intensification,succession, and logging in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

0425575 - BC 2014 RIV DE eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Miklín, J. - Čížek, Lukáš
Erasing a European biodiversity hot-spot: Open woodlands, veterantrees and mature forests succumb to forestry intensification,succession, and logging in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Journal for Nature Conservation. Roč. 22, č. 1 (2014), s. 35-41. ISSN 1617-1381. E-ISSN 1618-1093
Grant CEP: GA ČR GAP504/12/1952; GA TA ČR TA02021501
Grant ostatní: Universita Ostrava(CZ) SGS4/PřF/2012; European Social Fund(CZ) CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0064
Institucionální podpora: RVO:60077344
Klíčová slova: forest management * land use/land cover change * lower Morava UNESCO biosphere reserve
Kód oboru RIV: EH - Ekologie - společenstva
Impakt faktor: 1.646, rok: 2014
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1617138113000794

Open woodlands are among the biologically richest habitats of the temperate zone. Although open wood-lands were much more common in the past and covered large areas of Europe, their original cover andmagnitude of their loss remain mostly unknown. Here, we quantify the loss of open woodlands and assessthe potential for their restoration in an internationally protected biodiversity hot-spot, floodplain wood-lands of lower Thaya and March rivers of Dolní Morava UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Czech Republic.Aerial photographs from years 1938 and 2009 were used to analyse changes in forest canopy closureacross an area of 146 km2and separately for 270 ha of nature reserves found in the area. Forestry mapsand aerial photographs were used to analyse changes in forest age structure. Between 1938 and 2009,expansion of closed-canopy forest reduced open woodlands cover from 41% to 5.7% of total wooded area,or 68.5% to 14.1% in the state reserves respectively. Logging has led to a decrease in mature forest coverfrom 45% to 26% between 1990 and 2009. State reserves prevented logging, but not open woodlandsloss. The magnitude of open woodlands loss parallels that of tropical habitats, but has gone unabatedby nature conservation. Opportunities to restore open woodlands and conserve associated biodiversityin the internationally protected (e.g. UNESCO, Natura 2000), mostly state-owned, woodlands are beingcompromised by rapid logging. Our results also point to the low efficiency of international conservation measures in post-communist members of European Union.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0232429